State agency sues North Branch company to stop use of Pure Michigan trademark

Dutch clogs with "Pure Michigan" and "michigan.org" painted on them at the De Zwaan windmill in Holland as part of a Pure Michigan video project Thursday, August 23, 2012. (Cory Morse | Mlive.com)MLive.com file photo

NORTH BRANCH, MI -- The Michigan Economic Development
Corporation is asking a judge to stop a Lapeer County real estate company from
using its Pure Michigan trademark in a federal lawsuit filed in Detroit.

The lawsuit was filed Thursday, Nov. 21, in Detroit U.S.
District Court after the state claims Pure Michigan Real Estate Inc. began
operating in North Branch earlier this year.

The company made several requests between Feb. 15 and
Sept. 3 to collaborate with the MEDC and use the Pure Michigan trademark, but
the MEDC denies the requests for collaboration and has not licensed or
authorized the company to use the Pure Michigan name, according to the lawsuit.

Mark Gillim, a representative with Pure Michigan Real Estate said that his company reached out to the MEDC for assistance after it submitted its articles of incorporation to the state in February. He said he received a cease and desist letter seven months later from the MEDC.

State records show that Pure Michigan Real Estate was
registered as a real estate broker company in March. Gillim said the goal of the company is to become a statewide real estate agency focusing on personal protection planning and community restoration.

"These type of
actions by a state-funded organization cause great concern," Gillim said in an email to The Flint Journal. "If there was a
problem moving forward with our name and website the State of Michigan / MEDC
should have addressed that before misleading us and providing a corporate ID,
broker licenses, information and support."

Gillim is not a registered real estate agent, according to state records. However, his father, Gary Gillim, is a registered real estate agent and is listed in state records as an employee of the company. Gary Gillim could not be reached for comment.

The MEDC claims it never gave permission for the company to
use the Pure Michigan trademark in its business name. The company has also registered a website with
the Pure Michigan name as well as a Facebook page.

"The overwhelming success of Pure Michigan campaigns has brought
positive attention to Michigan since its inception in 2006, said MEDC's
communication director Michael Shore. "MEDC has never authorized any business
to use Pure Michigan in its name."

However, a state business listing search reveals dozens of
corporations using the Pure Michigan name. Federal court records do not show
any similar federal lawsuit filed against those businesses.

"They're picking winners and losers," Gillim said of the MEDC.

Shore declined to comment on the specifics of the lawsuit, citing the pending litigation.

The MEDC claims that it began using the Pure Michigan campaign
to promote tourism within the state as early as May 2006. Print and broadcast
advertising using the Pure Michigan trademark has been deployed extensively in
the state and nationwide by the MEDC, according to the lawsuit.

Shore said that the MEDC encourages businesses to use the
Pure Michigan logo but the lawsuit claims the business' name is likely to cause
confusion or deception that the real estate services offered by the business
were authorized by the MEDC when in fact they were not.

"We encourage the use of the Pure Michigan logo by Michigan
businesses and welcome their use of the Pure Michigan logo in their marketing
efforts," Shore said. "Currently, there are more than 450 approved uses of the
Pure Michigan logo for Michigan businesses across a broad range of industries
and sectors."

The MEDC is asking the court to force
the company to stop using the Pure Michigan name, turn over its Internet domain
and Facebook page, surrender any profits it made from using the Pure Michigan
trademark and other unspecified damages.

The business has not yet filed its
response to the lawsuit, but Gillim said the business is researching its response to the allegations.

"Our company was
established through the proper regulatory departments in the state of Michigan,
now we have a non-regulatory arm of the government creating confusion and
misleading the public," Gillim said.